4 Painless Ways to Improve Your Diet

Nov 30, 2001

Brian Hagiwara

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1. If your regular cold cereal isn't high-fiber, mix it half-and-half with a bran cereal. It will still taste good, but will provide a fiber boost of up to 7 grams (28 percent of the RDA, which is 25 grams for adults).

2. Instead of drinking 2 cups of 2-percent milk a day, make it 1-percent (or move from 1-percent to skim) to save a total of 14,600 calories a year -- enough for a 4-pound weight loss.

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3. Pick romaine lettuce rather than iceberg for salads and sandwiches; it has twice the potassium and folic acid, six times as much vitamin C, and eight times as much beta-carotene.

4. Pump up iron intake by cooking regularly in a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven. Long-simmering soups, stews, and sauces tend to absorb the most iron, but even scrambling an egg in a cast-iron skillet can more than double the egg's iron content.